Prepared by: Dr. Saeed Ismaeel Sini

Can a Muslim Woman Marry a non-Muslim?

     In fact, this is a good example of how much Islam cares for women. It allows a Muslim to marry a woman from among the People of the Book (Jews and Christians). Allah says: {Made lawful to you this day all good things. The food of the People of the Book are lawful to you [except when specifically mentioned to be

forbidden such as swine] and your food is lawful to them, and the chaste women from the believers and the chaste women from the people who received the scriptures before you, if you pay their dowry and take them in legal wedlock, not illegally or as concubines (girl friends).}[1] This is perhaps due to two reasons:

     1. Judaism and Christianity are the early versions of Islam. Both religions were referred to in the Holy Quraan as Islam or some of its derivations. Accordingly, the Muslim husband partially respects his wife’s religion, which in turn prevents him from humiliating her or forcing her to change her faith.(123) This same fact made marriage to an atheist or a pagan forbidden for a Muslim, because Islam completely contradicts atheism and paganism. This fact is likely to jeopardize the marriage bond sooner or later.

      2. Islam guarantees the wife’s rights as part of the Divine law, which is not subject to change and it is binding on the Muslim husband. It guarantees the spouse’s freedom of religion. As far as the non-Muslim husband is concerned, he is either not committed to any religion that has obligatory laws preserving the wife’s rights, or else he follows some man-made laws that may be wrong and are subject to change. Indeed, if we look closely at the laws concerning the wife’s rights in secular systems, we will find many contradictions and on-going changes. Under all circumstances, there is no guarantee of freedom of belief or worship for the Muslim woman if she marries a non-Muslim person.

[1] Holy Quraan, 5:5